Silo



M. ,HEHN'DL IslLo. l

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9| 192i.

1,437,657, Patented De@.5,19 22;'

f i ZZ n] V v if? v I? Patented ec. 5, 1922.

starsA fasi HERNDL, OF BLACK LICK, (3E-EIO.y

To @ZZ whom/i3 may] concern:

Be itknown that I, MAX HERNDL, a citi- Zen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at Black Lick, in the county of Franklin and State of Uhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Silos, of which the following is a specification.

ylilly present invention relates generally to silos and its object is to provide a silo construction which will have all of the advantages of the usual tall cylindricalsilo and at the same time avoid certain known disadvantages of the latter with respect in particular to the ordinary difficulties of charging and discharging.

lt is a well known fact that the tall cylindrical silo usually utilized., the height of which .is ordinarily increased to a point where the weight of material is alone sufflcient to maintain the material in the desired state,requires either elevators or blowing devices to carry the material to the top, thus adding the expense of such devices to the ordinarily expensiveconstruction of the silo itself. This expense is more or less prohibitive to the small farmer and my invention proposes a silo construction which will commend itself at least to the extend that it overcomes these difficulties.

ln the accompanying drawing which illustrates my invention and forms a part of this specification,

Figure l is a front elevation showing my proposed silo arrangement,

Figure 2 is a horizontal section. the roof being removed,

Figure 3 is a side view of one of the units or containers, and

Figures 4.- and 5` are vertical sections through one of the units or containers illustrating the use of a press for packing the ensilage.

'Referring now to these figures, and in lieu of the usual construction which consists of a single vertical container of considerable height, my invention proposes a silo construction including a series of vertical upwardly opening containers l0 of substantially less height than those ordinarily employed, it being proposed that the maximum height of each shall not exceed the height to which straw and fodder may be either pitched or carried by the usual hay forks or hay stack forming devices. These containers 10 in a series, which may be partially' embedded in the ground in lorder to obtain the maximum capacity with minimum extension vertically above `the ground. are arranged adjacent to one another in a series within and below a superstructure the supports of which are seen at ll, this superstructure having a roof l2 which extends over the upper open ends of the several containers of the series so that the latter need not have individual top closures. T he superstructure may have hay sling supports as indicated at 13 inr Figure l and is provided further with anv elevated platform ld; beneath the roof l2 and level with or preferably above the upper open ends of the coutainer l() so as to act as a common charging floor for the several containers, making it possible to either pitch hay or fodder from the groundto this charging floor and from there fork the material by hand into the several containers, for which purpose the latter may have upper hinged boards l5 andthe like capable of being connected by chains 16.

to form in effect a hopper top as shown in Figure 3 to guide the material thus forked from theplatforin lll into the container. y

As seen in Figure 2 the containers may be either cylindrical or rectangular and as seen in Figures 3, 4 and 5 their lower ends may be buried in theI ground in connection with horizontal supports 17 having upright chains 18. the latter connected to chain hoists and `the like 19 adapted to be connected in turn by chainsQO to the upper cross meinbers 2l of a press arrangement including a press board 22 and blocks 23 between this press plate and the upper cross piece 21. Thus `by manipulating the chain hoists i9 the press board or plate 22 may be gradually forced downwardly into the container as will be seen by a comparison of Figures 4 and 5, the hinged top boards l5, if such are employed being disconnected and folded downwardly upon the outer surface of the container at this time.

rlhus while the height of the individual containers may not be sufficient to provide for the desired weight of material therein, the application of pressure will well serve the purpose of pressure of the material and in view of the common charging platform withthe ease in which material may be elevated to this platform and thereupon disposed within the containers grouped around the platform, obvidusly adapts the silo of my improved construction to the small farmer to Whom the expense of the ordinary silo and its charging apparatus Would be prohibitive.

It is to be observed that the individual containers l0 may be discharged as to at least a portion of their contents from the top andthat each has but a single side door 2% which is opened When the container is partly discharged, so as to permit of the discharge of the remainder of the feed from the container without necessitating the opening and closing of the complicated vertical series of doors found in the usual silo construction.

It is understood that in so far as the pressing or' the material within the containers 'is concerned, the invention has particular reference to ensilage in the iorm oi hay and grass `which When placed Within the containers starts to heat. W hen it has heated as desired, the use of the press stops further heating and maintains Within the ensilage the nutritive properties of the material in the then practically air tight container. Accordingly hay and grass can be put in fairly green and thus handled Without breaking the same up to the extent occuringwhen such material is handled in an entirely dry state.

I claim:

l. A silo construction consisting of a series of Vertical adjacent upwardly opening ensilage containers, the vmaximum height of each of which does not exceed the height to which straw and fodder may be pitched, and means above the several containers and common thereto forming a cover for the containers and having means from Which inaterial may be fed into the containers as described.

2. A silo construction consisting of a series of ensilage containers arranged in parallel rows, a superstructure having a roof common to the several containers, and a charging ioor lengthwise oit the superstructure above and between said rows, Whose side edges terminate above the containers, said containers being of such height that ensilage may be pitched onto said charging floor for discharge from the sides of the latter into the containers.

In testimony whereof l have aiixed my signature.

MAx i-inmnonv 

